Letter from the Editor: Meet the GOP Congressional hopefuls

For the first time in 35 years, a name will be missing from the 6th Congressional district ballot, Tom Petri. The long-standing public servant’s decision not to run threw wide open a race that had been considered a foregone conclusion. The field for the GOP nomination filled quickly, and the contenders include familiar names and one newcomer to politics.

To help you make the most informed choice in the GOP primary for the 6th Congressional district, Gannett Wisconsin Media and Lakeland College will be hosting the second of our candidate debates at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Plymouth High School Auditorium. There is no Democratic primary in the district, but we will be holding a general election debate between the Republican nominee and Democratic candidate Mark Harris, who currently serves as the Winnebago County Executive.

The candidates have been going toe-to-toe, trading pointed attacks in campaign ads and trying to draw distinctions in the minds of voters at other debates.

In our debate, we hope to focus on the issues that will help you feel confident you know who the candidates are and where they stand on the issues.

We will ask the candidates how they will get government working again. Frustration with Congress is at an all-time high while confidence is at an all-time low. According to the most recent Gallup poll, only 17 percent of voters approve of Congress. While all of the Republican candidates are calling for less government, voters are increasingly angry about the partisan gridlock.

And this comes at a time when the US faces many challenges at home and abroad. Parts of the Middle East are descending into chaos with Islamic militants fighting to rewrite boundaries in Syria and Iraq and establish a caliphate. Israel is at war again with the Palestinians. Ukraine’s civil war with Russian-backed separatists has led to the downing of a civilian flight. Leadership is needed.

However, while in the past, partisanship would have faded in the face of such challenges, these global threats are just more ammunition in the war of words between our petulant political leaders.

Healthcare reform has been the lightning rod issue for Republican voters, but unless Republicans win a veto-proof majority, repeal of the Affordable Care Act is impossible. We will ask the candidates what changes to the act they propose that they believe will win the votes necessary for passage.

Another rising issue is immigration, with the percentage of Americans saying that immigration is the most important issue facing the nation spiking from the low single-digits to 17 percent, according to Gallup. We will ask the candidates how they plan to deal with the issues of illegal and legal immigration and, just as importantly, how they would pay for their proposals.

We will also give the candidates a chance to explain why they think they should win your vote, giving them an opportunity to make their case and to introduce themselves to people who may not be familiar with their backgrounds.

The auditorium is a great venue with room for more than a thousand people, and the campaigns have been promoting the forum to their supporters for weeks. So make sure to get there early to get a good seat.

As we did with the assembly debates, we will stream the forum live on the Internet at htrnews.com for those who cannot make it, but we hope to see as many of you there as possible.

Kevin Anderson is executive editor of HTR Media and Sheboygan Press Media. He can be reached at (920) 453-5114 and at kanderson2@htrnews.com.